In motor vehicles, the accelerator pedal is used to regulate power demand from a driver. In regulating the amount of power or acceleration demanded by the driver, existing accelerator pedals typically use two-track or three-track resistive sensors to detect failures or malfunctions. For example, a two track accelerator pedal utilizes two resistive sensors with different transfer function to represent the accelerator pedal position or pedal travel and movement. The use of two resistive sensors in two-track accelerator pedals or three resistive sensors in three-track accelerator pedals provides successful detection of many failures as they are occurring. For example, in a pedal with two-track resistive sensors, a failure in one sensor can be detected by the other functionally operational sensor since the transfer functions of the two resistive sensors are different. However, two-track and three-track resistive sensors may not be able to detect failures that are not captured by respective resistive sensors when such sensors are operating as depicted by their transfer functions. Additionally, two-track and three-track resistive sensors cannot detect the specific condition under which the failure may occur. For example, existing sensors may not be able to detect failure conditions where accelerator pedal failure occurs when the accelerator pedal becomes stuck or lodged at different positions due to, for example, corrosion of the pedal arm, or obstructions, such as improper mat usage or placement. Under such conditions, the two-track or three-track resistive sensor based accelerator pedal will report a fixed position for the accelerator pedal, whereas such a fixed position is not what is being desired or requested by the driver. These failure conditions, which can manifest themselves as accelerator pedal disturbances, are typically relayed to a vehicle system controller, and ultimately may affect the power output of the motor vehicle, in effect creating an inaccurate demand for power output. Thus, to meet driver expectations with regard to the specific demand for power output or acceleration from the driver, it can be advantageous for accelerator pedal systems to have the ability to detect such disturbances, as well as the ability to prevent unintended accelerator pedal failure.
Accordingly, some existing accelerator pedals include a force sensor mounted on the accelerator pedal to detect a force being applied to the accelerator pedal in relation to various positions of the accelerator pedal. However, even existing systems including a force sensor on the accelerator pedal are not designed to detect conditions that lead to the failures described above. Additionally, many existing detection systems are limited in what failure conditions they are detecting and how they respond to such conditions. Therefore, there is a need for a system that can detect failure conditions and prevent unintended accelerator pedal system failure in motor vehicles.